St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are engaged in an unprecedented effort to identify the genetic changes that give rise to some of the world's deadliest childhood cancers. The team has joined forces to decode the genomes of more than 600 childhood cancer patients. The St. Jude Children's Research Hospital – Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project is the largest investment to date aimed at understanding the genetic origins of childhood cancers. Scientists involved in the project are sequencing the entire genomes of both normal and cancer cells from each patient, comparing differences in the DNA to identify genetic mistakes that lead to cancer.